You're Not Going To Believe This!
by Bloom450
Summary: Xfiles! AU When the FBI decides to reassigns Bennet to a small office he comes face to face with an old rival from his days at the FBI academy-Nea Campbell. They discover that the FBI's Cold Case section isn't filled completely with the victims of serial killer but rather paranormal phenomena. Maybe MA in later chapters!
1. Forward

I know this might not be some peoples cup of tea, but it seems like something hilarious to do and I did it, no matter how long it would take me. It's a little hard writing characters which we know very little about, specifically Nea Campbell and who as of 2016, we assume is a past version of Allen Walker. With the date on that it should tell you why these characters behave the way they do in this fic. So if you're reading this in the future please forgive me. But on that note I would like to address the use of Past! Allen, due to the fact that normal Allen is currently planned to be introduced later on in the fic, Past! Allen has been renamed to Bennet for the time being, and if I can go back and change his name when and if I actually change the plan, then this part will completely disappear, so thank you for putting up with this. The second note is of the use of Original characters in this, there are original characters filling empty spots of the xfiles universe that are really quiet necessary, but because it is the past there are a lack of characters.

 **if you do have a man oc and you'd like them to make a cameo in this fic, please message me.**


	2. Chapter 1 : Pilot

_"_ _Its been over five years since I was assigned to these strange and odd cases with that man. That strange, odd, eccentric, stupidly beautiful man. I write this on the evening after of his disappearance. The disappearance of my partner, of the man I loved. I sit here in his office, writing this out in pure frustration. I couldn't possibly imagine the events that lead to this. I attempt, not so well to hold back my tears from hitting this notepad as I write. But I can't. But sitting here brings it back. The memories of when we were first assigned to work together and all these strange odd adventures we went on. On the Eve of the anniversary of our partnership. My Partner, Nea Campbell, has gone missing. So here I will write, how it all began…."_

Chapter one : Pilot

January was always cold in Washington, colder here than it had been at Berkeley. But, then again, after five years in Quantico this cold had become such a normal thing. Cross had once told him that he should pray to god for winter to become much warmer. Bennet walked forward, moving through the crowds of other FBI agents that filled the hallway near the assistant director's office. He hated this, after three years working with criminal and cyber, working mindless hours with video encryption, code encryption and white collar crimes. He didn't understand, why the Bureau had decided to change his position.

He entered the room only to have his nose assaulted by the smell of cheap cigarette smoke. The man quickly put it out when he saw Bennet walk into the room.

"Have a seat," the man said.

"Have I done something wrong?" Bennet asked.

"No nothing at all. Cigarette?"

"No thank you, I don't smoke," Bennet responded politely. "If you don't mind me being so blunt sir, why have you called me here today?"

"I have a job for you. Currently only one person working full time on the unsolved cases division because, well, you can't do much with unsolved cases," the assistant director said.

"And why do they need my assistance?"

"I was thinking that your computer expertise would be useful in dealing with these kinds of cases. The two of you could organize the unsolved files and connect any loose ends. But in truth, it's an attempt to keep that man in line."

"So I'm an over glorified babysitter," he muttered, trying to mask the disappointment dripping in his voice. "To be frank sir, did i do something to offend you, Assistant Director?"

The assistant director almost chuckled. "Nothing. But your expertise would be useful in this situation."

Bennet now found himself trudging down to basement of the FBI building, half his items sticking out of a cardboard box. He muttered half complaints as he made it towards the door of his new office. He knocked on it with the tip of his foot only to find the door was open and he pushed in.

"Hello?" Bennet called out.

"Welcome to hell," a man said, hidden behind stacks and stacks of paper.

"Hell? More like a tree graveyard."Bennet said walking into the room trying not to push over any of the stacks of paper.

The man gave a chuckle. "You're funny, so who did you piss off so much they sent you down to the boiler room?" His head popped out over the stack of papers.

There he was. A familiar shaggy messy, haired man with dark eyes staring at him. The smug look fading as Bennet almost dropped the box he was holding in dismay.

Nea Campbell.

"YOU FUCKER!" Were the only words that could leave Bennet's mouth at that moment.

"I should be saying that to you! Wasn't it bad enough that your were under my shadow all through the academy! Now you've had to get yourself demoted to be under my great shadow once again!" Nea began to spout rather proudly.

"First, hold the phone," Bennet said, "under your shadow? Last I checked your scores were always under mine. Second, i didn't get demoted. The A.D. sent me down here to babysit your ass.'

The smug look fell off Nea's face as he glared with pure spit at Bennet. He walked around the stacks of papers towards Bennet only to attempt to shove him out.

"Leave," was the only thing the purple haired man said as he began to push Bennet with all his force.

"No!" Bennet planted his feet in the doorway, forcing himself toward the room.

"I don't need you, I can get them to give me another partner! Hell! I can do this myself!" Nea said pushing Bennet with most of his strength, yet the man would not move outward into the hallway.

"I can see that, through all these mounds of paper…"

"Shut up, Four Eyes!"

A few minutes of this passed and Nea got a brilliant idea. He moved away from Bennet to let the man fall onto the floor, only to realize a few seconds too late that Bennet would fall on top of him, and both of them clattered to the floor. Bennet was at least thankful that he had land on top of Nea.

He pushed himself up to ask, "Are you Alright, Campbell?" but his motion caused a pile of papers to fall on top of them.

"Ugh…" Nea said, popping out of a pile of papers. "Four eyes, where are you?"

Bennet's head popped up from the papers. Here…"

"How did you get so far down there?"

"You pulled yourself forward, and I got uncomfortable close to your crotch you bastard," Bennet glared.

"Sorry. Man what a mess…" He muttered beginning to gather up all the scattered papers. Bennet sighed, beginning to gather papers as well.

"Why do you have all these anyway? Empty case files of bodies that haven't been found, bodies found with no names. Things that can't be explained, like spontaneous combustion. I bet you wish half of these would spontaneously combust, less work…"

"Haha, no way, Four eyes! These are all importants files. The last vague idea of a person's life, don't be rude," Nea retorted quickly.

A knock suddenly came at the door.

An elder woman stood. She wasn't quiet elderly but she had gotten past middle age. She spoke quickly looking at both of them. In all fairness her reaction was expected. Two young FBI agent, surrounded in mountains and mountains of paper. They looked ridiculous.

"Oh, are you busy? This was the time you said to meet you, wasn't it Mr. Campbell?"

Nea stood up rapidly, and for a second Bennet thought he was flushed. Hurriedly straightening out his shirt, Nea walked over to the woman.

"I'm not; please, have...um a seat…" He quickly cleared out some of the fallen papers and moved some of the stacks from a single chair. "Four eyes, don't look completely useless."

Bennet stood up, holding back any bitchy remarks he could have given Nea at that moment.

"Thank you so much for seeing me," The woman said, "I didn't think anyone would believe what i said."

"We're not private eyes. Your case was sent to us by local law enforcement," Bennet said quickly.

"Please ignore my rookie partner; it's the first day on the job," Nea said in almost a hiss. "Please tell us your account of the story, don't let him discourage you. Please, go on Ms. Miller."

Bennet looked at Nea, a little discontent with him being brushed off so quickly. Miller, that was the woman's surname, he had assumed they had spoken over the phone before. Pretending to amuse himself with a case file, he began to listen into their conversation.

A few moments passed and Bennet couldn't believe what he was hearing. This Miller woman was insane. People going missing, bodies half eaten by animals, sightings of odd humanoid creatures. He wanted to laugh out loud, but the woman was still in the room and he wasn't that big of an asshole. Everything that Ms. Miller said sounded something out of science fiction. Like some cult classic show from the nineteen nineties going straight to her head, and believing it enough to come down with the case of a serial killer. Pleading to Nea Campbell, of all people, to assist a town that, like Bennet himself, didn't believe a word this woman was saying to begin with. He looked at Nea, almost hoping to see the look of disbelief on his face.

"Right, now how tall exactly was the creature you saw, Ms. Miller?" Nea said, there was almost a sparkle in his eye.

Bennet stood there. He wanted to jump out a window, but what good would that do him? he was already in Hell, and this one he still couldn't believe.

After Nea had jotted down a few notes, he and Ms. Miller chatted briefly before she left, Nea closing the door behind her.

"Pack your things, specs, your first case is in Montana," Nea said with a grin.

"You mean you're going to Montana and I have to follow your ass," Bennet retorted.

The cocky smile had returned to Nea's face. "Exactly, so technically I'm babysitting you because you have to follow me."

"You don't really believe her, this Miller woman, do you? A Humanoid creature that steals people and eats them, where the whole town can see in the middle of a full moon? That sounds like a load of bullshit. I mean, come on, it's probably a serial killer, and what does your boiler room consultant agency do? Not fucking this."

"Have you ever heard of the X-files, Glasses?" Nea asked.


	3. Chapter 2 : Winter's clammy hands

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;"Bennet adjusted his glasses carefully. He grumbled a little under her breath remember that God forsaken conversation about fairy tales he had been forced to take part in. He stood in line for TSA's safety checks. Just because you were an FBI agent didn't mean you were exempt from the dreaded pat down of another agent to make sure you weren't planning some funny business. He sighed looking up; only to see Nea freaking Campbell, arrive at the very back of the check line. The purple haired man looked up to see Bennet far in front of him, only to have Bennet give him a snide smile, quickly turning away./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;"Bennet gave a sigh; the conversation was now fresh in his mind, the X-files? Campbell had to be joking, monsters, aliens, the unexplained… /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;"Ridiculous, a grown ass man believing in such things as monsters./span/emspan lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;" He rolled his eyes just thinking about it, but the TSA agent gave him an odd look as he walked through the x-ray. After the screenings had been done he quickly took his shoes and slipped the black oxfords on as he pulled his coat over himself, walking out to the open area of the airport terminal. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;"By the time he had gotten to the end to wait for Nea, the man attempted to step through the full body scanner only for the machine to beeped. The man quickly returned to the other side of the scanner and begun emptying out his pant pockets, removed his socks, and checked his shirt pocket, pulling out a pen along a few quarters. He went back through again and it beeped once more./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;"Bennet put his face in his hand, barely making out the words Nea spoke to the TSA agent. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Is it me who broke they're ankle?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;"Bennet looked up to see a TSA agent patting Nea down and running the metal detector over his ankles only to get it beeping on one. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;""Oh so it was me!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;"Bennet stared almost in disbelief as the other man walked calmly through the scanner once more to the other side to casually pull on his shoes, coat once more, and walk over to him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;""Well that took long enough!" Nea said. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black;""Why do you have metal in your ankles?" Bennet asked quickly. "And why don't you remember that!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""There are two of us we're identical, I've started to forget what happened to which off us as children." Nea said. "Come on specs!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Stop calling me specs."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Seven hours on a plane ride and then another two in the car listening to on and off again, static-y country radio and Nea's insensate chattering of mindless thing, Bennet blinked in and out of a light sleep until Nea slammed on the breaks and he jolted up./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Bennet gave a glare at the man driving, who barely stuttered out. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Look."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He turned to see a deer staring back at him just as wide eyed as he felt./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Oh god damn it, this is why I hate the country." Bennet grumbled only to get a mild laugh out of Nea./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What is this a little too much nature for you, Specs?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Shut up, I like nature just fine; just not when it's coming at the car I'm in." He replied swiftly./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Ooo touché, we're almost to Truth, its right around this bend." Nea said beginning to drive once the deer moved out of the car's way./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Bigfoot country, huh? Are you ready to see absolutely no proof what so ever?" Bennet said with a sneer as they entered a small dusty looking town in the middle of the Montana Mountains./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"There was a sudden sharp turn and Bennet clutched the handle in the car as they turned roughly into the town's sheriff office lot. Nothing but bumpy gravel road as Nea parked the car./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Are you to bend over and kiss your own ass when we do find evidence?" he asked quickly before opening the car door. The soft crunch of gravel followed as he walked in front of the car before turning to wait for Bennet. "Come on, Specs."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Bennet rolled his eyes and opened the door into the cold winter air of the Montana Mountains, if he looked to their west where the mountain ridge lay; it looked as if it was so far away from them. However, before that the white consumed everything. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"They walked into the police station and Nea quickly went up to the information desk, chatting up the man behind the desk easily. Bennet watched him, only getting the general subjects of the conversation, which was mostly small talk explaining who they were and why they were style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBennet made his way over to a bulletin board littered with missing pet flyers. He chuckled, wondering why they were there of all places, but then he saw a missing person flyer. Frowning, He looking it over./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Glasses."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"That name quickly pulled him out of his fixation on the flyers. Bennet gave Nea a small glare as he walked to follow Nea back into the Sheriff's style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe Sheriff was a plump man wearing the almost cliché brown uniforms./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I mean, I really believed that there was no reason for you boys to come out here, but I guess since you're here we'll take your assistance," The Sheriff said. "A few days ago we got a call about a missing woman, Jocelyn Gayla, a day and a half after her missing person's report; we found her body up by the lake a few miles out from here. A few days before that, a John Doe was found…a few days before Gayla went missing."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Can we see the bodies?" Nea asked. Bennet shifted uncomfortably in his seat rather quickly. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Why don't we split up, you can go to the coroner's office, and one of your officers can take me to the lake side." Bennet hurriedly said, catching Nea trying to hid a childish face of disappointment./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The sheriff nodded. "I'll show you out there myself. Mr. Campbell I can show you to the hospital, because the town's morgue is there."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Bennet heard a small complaint from Nea about it being a small town but shrugged it off./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"About an hour passed as Bennet sat in the car with the sheriff rambling on about his wife, while all Bennet really wanted to do was go to a motel room and sleep off the grogginess that came with the cross-country style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFinally, they pulled up to a little lake with a few houses surrounded in snow around the edge of the frozen lake. The Sheriff stepped out of the car. Moving towards an out grove of trees withering in the cold air. Long tear marks ripped through the earth. The area was marked with police tape and marker flags scattered the earth like leaves in autumn, marking little things like tears and tracks. The most prominent area was where the body was found./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""These indentations in the dirt? Could a vehicle have caused?" span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBennet asked looking back at the sheriff./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Not any vehicle I've seen in these parts." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""When was the body found? The most recent one?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Two a.m. last night, a jane doe, the body was so disfigured you could actually see her teeth through her eye b-" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Thank you, sheriff." Bennet said style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Any idea for a motive?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We're stumped. We thought for a while, that it could have been a serial murder, but that's fallen apart, there is no evidence, to suggest that a man could have done it killed all these people." The sheriff responded in a somber./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""No suspects, no motive, no leads…" Bennet turned to the sheriff before letting out a sigh. "And the other crime scenes?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; tab-stops: 374.95pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Covered in snow up at least as high as your ass."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Bennet's shoulder slumped. " Right, because… its winter and it snows here…"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Again I don't know why you and your partner came out all this way just for something without any leads." The sheriff replied./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You and me both," Bennet mumbled under his breath. "There is nothing left out here for me to look at. I would like to read over all the case files there are."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The sheriff nodded and waded through the little amount of snow there was back to his car as Bennet followed./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Later that night Bennet stood in his almost shady looking motel room, Nea was still out and thank God for that. The room was silent aside from the clamor of people in the rooms next to him. The case files had haphazardly been thrown on one of the style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanBennet quickly opened the messy set of file folders looking only to find the shitty reproductions of the victims' bodies, taken by the coroner./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed a number. He glanced back at the images of cold bodies lying on metal slabs./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Hello? Yea it's me… Sorry for calling you so late…Listen, I could use a second opinion on this case I'm working on?" Bennet said when the phone was picked up. "Yea I'll fax you over the pictures; do you think you could work from those? Yea, okay, thanks, I owe you. Yes, I'm fine… Yes, I've been eating… Jesus, what are you my mom?" He laughed sticking the pictures through the fax machine in the room and punched in a number. Bennet heard the doorknob jingled and a man curse on the other side. He slipped the photos out of the fax machine and set them back on the bed./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'll call you back okay? Okay, good bye, goodnight…" Bennet hung only seconds after Nea entered the room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Your girlfriend?" Nea raised an eyebrow as he entered./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Shut up." Bennet responded./span/p 


	4. Chapter 3 : Bigfoot's Coffee

"So what even is this thing? We've seen three corpses, two locat-"Bennet was interrupted before he could finish his sentence by the man angrily shaking two pieces of pancake at his face, sitting across from him at Truth, Montana's only diner.

"I saw three bodies, you saw the photos." Nea said, his tone almost angry through the mouth stuffed full of pancake.

"Fine, whatever," Bennet said, lifting his hands from the table. "All we've seen are things that point to a serial murderer, not something that you were suggesting on the plane. This isn't a werewolf, or even random sporadic Bigfoot encounters could explain, let alone be considered to be plausible leads for this case."

"Sporadic bigfoot encounters? No, no, no, Bigfoot are normally g-"

"I don't care Campbell, because all your Bigfoot statistics are beside the point. I faxed the images from the victims you took the day before, to a colleague of mine who works as a contractor for the FBI. They said that these are all marked with clear intent: Precise and calculating. Because of that these are ritual killings, the type some creep does naked in the woods to bring him good fortune. Our suspect is probably someone well known in the community."

"Wait, wait, wait…You're saying you think this is just some psycho killing people because the full moon asks him too?" Nea asked, eyes wide in disbelief as if Bennet had just told him he didn't believe in gravity.

" I'm not saying that that's not completely impossible, but from what we've seen of the dump sites there is no reason to suggest that anyone of those unrealistic idea can easily fall through." Bennet responded rather rationally.

" I don't have to take this from a man who puts no cream in his coffee." Nea said taking a sip of his coffee.

Bennet had almost spit the drink of coffee he had taken. "How does that relate to what we're talking about. "

"It relates perfectly, I'm just saying that most serial killers drink their coffee black." Nea said.

"That's a bunk statistics," Bennet chided.

"Getting back on subject," Nea moved his had as if to fan away the discussion of Bennet having the makings of a serial killer in him. "How could you possibly know a human could have done it?"

Bennet bit back a sharp response on the subject of the supernatural, giving him a self a second to gather his thoughts. "I told you, I called a damn expert on the subject last night! I even faxed h-"

"Wait, you faxed someone while I wasn't in the room!That phone call! You lied to me! I can't believe it! You weren't talking to a girlfriend at all! You're single aren't you?" Nea faked being extremely offended to the point of turning away from Bennet completely.

Bennet held a very straight unamused face as the man played his act. Ignoring Nea's question and accusation, he moved on. "I am almost certain that this is a serial wacko getting his shits and giggles out here in the middle of nowhere."

A waitress came over and began to refill their coffee cups, just as Nea was about to jump into another rant about how probably bigfoot could have committed the crimes.

"Would you gentlemen like anything else?"

"No, thank you," Nea said, not looking at her.

"Alright then, I'll come back with your bill," She walked off.

Nea was about to continue his point when his cell phone rang. Bennet gave him a snide smirk as the other man picked it up, and without the other man to entertain him, Bennet began to zone out looking around the café, boring decor for a simple little town, typical. Waitresses in almost full fifties uniforms aesthetic, wearing aprons and sneakers to make it easier on them and keep the look.

"Right, we're on our way…" Nea muttered before closing the flip phone in his hand and quickly standing up. "We're going." He pulled a few bills and left them on the table, chugging his sugared coffee and grabbing the last pancake off the plate and eating it in hand like a savage.

Bennet stared at him. "Can I not finish my coffee in peace?"

"There's been another body…"Nea said, and without hesitation Bennet left his seat taking a last sip of his coffee, which wasn't even half finished.

After a bumpy care ride and Nea's sticky table syrup hands grasping almost desperately to the last bite of pancake he had. Bennet glanced at his so-called partner getting fussy about the syrup still on his fingers, trying desperately not to wipe it on his pants. How was he a functioning adult?

"Just wipe it on the grass!" Bennet shouted. Under his breath, he added, ' _moron_ ', before they move on.

Police tape marked off a small area near a lake. Snow covered almost everything and in the distance, a few cabins sat on the same road. However, towards the police tape and between some trees , about twenty police officers standing over something, and between them, Bennet caught a glimpse of a foot. A shiver when down his spine as Nea had already begun to walk forward. Bennet staggered behind, giving enough room between Nea and himself. Instead of walking towards the body Bennet chose to interrogate one of the first responders, and pulled aside a young police officer.

"Do we have any clue on what happened?" Bennet whispered, letting the panic and concern of the first responders rise around them.

"A man walking his dog found him…One, Jacob Hampton…He lived in the neighborho-"

"Bennet, come look at this," Nea called, interrupting the officer. Bennet could see the gloves on Nea's hands, and a man presumed to be the coroner. The color of red stood out harshly against the white and brown of winter's cold grasp. A cruel color of heat.

"I'm fine over here," Bennet said back, refusing to move already feeling generally queasy about his distance from the body. Nea gave him a look of displeasure.

After a few hours of arguing, they had end up back at the Sheriff's office. Papers scattered about as well as disposable paper cups.

"Jacob Hampton, A teacher at the high school. Reports say there were no people who even generally disliked him, except you know the normal high school dropouts that dislike most teachers," Bennet said, watching Nea pace around, highlighter in hand in some attempt to make sense of everything.

"Three completely random victims, three locations scattered around town...towns…cause god forbid there be more than one sheriff department out in this godforsaken place," Nea muttered drinking what had to be his fourth cup of coffee that day. "All with bite marks."

"But the humanoid creature Ms. Miller told you about had yet to appear…surprise," Bennet droned,leaning back in his chair as he looked at the photos of Mr. Hampton's remains. The coroner had told Nea that the bit marks weren't exactly human, yet they weren't far enough from human to be anything else but.

"Nea, We have no suspects, not motive, I'm afraid this set of murders will have to be set will be have to be put in the cold case files."

"No," The other man said not looking back at Bennet.

"No? We've been here for days! The local police department doesn't have any leads! _WE_ don't have any leads!" Bennet stood up slamming his hands on the table, making Nea and the paper cups on the table jump a little.

"What are we going to tell them, that we wasted, hundreds of dollars' worth of taxpayer money so we could freeze our asses off out here?"

"There has to be something! There has to be!" Nea said, his eyes determined and calculating, staring straight at Bennet.

"Let's face it…We have nothing but some bodies and the snow." Bennet said.

"I know…I KNOW DAMNIT," Nea shouted. "But there still is a chance…The coroner, he should be looking over the body right now… so maybe…"

"You have until tomorrow afternoon to come up with some kind of proof before I call in and have us pulled out of this town in the middle of butt fuck nowhere." Bennet said.

"I realize you weren't sent to be my partner…They sent you to keep me in check right?" Bennet froze, and Nea gave a dry smirk. " Ha….It's written all over your face, you can't even deny it. I know you're not here to be my friend, hell even to assist me, But please have some faith in me, that even if. Even if it's a serial murder as you say, that I can solve it. So please…."

"You have until tomorrow afternoon." Bennet spoke firmly before leaving the room.

Nea hung his head leaning against the table for support.

Bennet looked back at the office, He felt a little annoyed at the guilt that coursed through him. He sighed. It was days like these he really wished he hadn't quit smoking so long ago.

Bennet hastily pulled his coat on and walked outside into the cold sun of the Montana winter. He pull out his phone once again, holding the flip phone up to the sky, even going through the effort of pulling out the stubborn antenna from the phone. He walked carefully down the street slight, watching out for people driving carelessly or large trucks. He wanted to go back to Washington. Suddenly his phone rang.

"Hello? Hi, did you find anything? Uh, great…There was another body found…yea. I'll fax the pictures to you if you don't mind. Yea, uh-huh, thanks." Bennet hung up the phone and automatically turned around and returned the police station.

He looked into the room where Nea still stood, completely engulfed in finding any connection between the victims, too preoccupied to notice Bennet reentering the room. Swiping photo documentation of the bite marks off the table he went to the police station's fax machine, punching a familiar 10-digit code and sending them away. Only to receive back a few minutes later copies of the photographs that had been sent the night before. Writing was visible in the black and white distortion and coloration of the copy.

Reading over the notes, he began to immerse himself in the details that were laid out in plain English. The fax machine made a sound only for a copy of the recent picture come out. A Note in the margins was the only thing on it.

 _They're the same._

He froze. Then another came from the fax machine.

 _I don't know what you're going up against but this is some freaky shit. From these shitty pictures, I say you are looking for a human. This is some cannibalistic shit, be careful out there and watch for anyone who may be behaving, in a manner that's not completely sane._

A shiver went down his spine. He took the papers and walked back into the office. Setting the newly faxed pages on the table. Bennet then quickly removed his jacket.

"Any word from the coroner?"

"Yea he called a little bit ago…" Nea stated. "All the tests were inconclusive. But the teeth marks were the same as the last victims...Why do you have black and white copies of the crime scene and autopsy photos?"

"Remember that colleague of mine?" Bennet asked as he spread out the faxes on the table. "They sent these. They said from what the photograph even at this quality, are probably human marks, see the notes here and here. The most likely reason as we, _I've_ stated before is Cannibalism. So we have a motive now."

"Food," Nea said. "Our victims what connects them? Victim number one, male, about thirty to forty years old found up the lake… Next a female, forty years old, found here…Ms. Miller's Neighborho…."

"It's not the old lady; before you even go there…she would have eaten us." Bennet said. "Next, a man, twenty years old…in this location, just off the highway…"

"And lastly, the man from this morning. Found up near the lake, off the residential road. Wait… All these bodies only had parts of them bitten out of them and then hidden in areas, that aren't visible from main roads."

"But Mr. Hampton wa-"Bennet started.

"First responders had moved the body after they photographed it. They only thought to alert us about the incident, after they had move the body up out of the brush." Nea said. "You would have heard that if you hadn't stayed back to interview people."

"I got enough information thank you." Bennet said automatically defensive.

"Uh-huh, sure…" Nea said. "Again, he was bitten and then hidden out of sight…"

"Wait…It's been a long time since my last biology class…but don't wild animals store their kill for later?" Bennet said.

"You're right…It could be a Wendigo." Nea said.

"A what?" Bennet asked the skepticism in his voice rising.

"A Wendigo, a cannibalistic spirit or monster depending on who you ask. They eat people, because they're perpetually starving. They come from Algonquin tradition." Nea said.

"I don't feel like you're doing their beliefs justice." Bennet said.

"I'm not but it's been a long time since I've come across anything similar." Nea replied.

"Even so, where are the Algonquin people from?" Bennet asked.

"The Northern Atlantic." Nea said starting to lose interest in the conversation and beginning to engross himself in the notes.

"We are in a desert, in the middle of the boundary between the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest. So I'm going to say No."

"We need to go back to the murder site." Nea said almost shooting up from the hunch position he had taken in over the table, startling Bennet in the process.

"Nea, it's a quarter to five, by the time get out there the sun will be down."

"Get your coat." The man practically ran past him.

"You're going to Freeze your nads off!" Bennet shouted after him, then muttering, " oh for the love of…" as he grabbed his coat and hurried after him.


	5. Chapter 4: A Killer's Gaze

Bennet sat almost freezing in the car, waiting for it to begin to warm up as Nea drove recklessly onto the 464, the sun dipping behind the horizon slowly submerging them in darkness.

"So now why is it so important that we have to go trekking into the fucking snow at night?"

"I had an idea about what it may be," Nea said.

"Well? Unlike you, I'm not well-versed in mythology," Bennet pressed shifty in the car uncomfortably as the cold air from the heater hit him as the car tried to warm up.

"It's not a mythology; there are people still to this day who believe in it, so don't call it that. It's disrespectful."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"It's from the Navajo tribe to the south. They don't talk about it, not to us outsiders, especially. They're called skinwalkers; they're an evil type of witch where simply talking about them is said to bring bad luck."

"Well they don't sound that scary..." Bennet muttered, pulling a cigarette out of the box in his jacket before looking for his lighter as Nea continued talking.

"Everything I've read up on - and trust me there's not much - says they have a taste for human flesh. They stop at nothing short of tricking their victims to become easy prey, like brave rabbits approaching a trap filled with food," Nea said, glancing at Bennet who had found his lighter, he frowned. "Can you at least crack the window while you do that specs?"

"Yea no problem," Bennet said. complying with the request but regretting it instantly when the freezing air whistled through the car. He reached over to put the heater on full blast before lighting the cigarette.

By the time the cigarette had burnt down to the butt, Nea was throttling through the snow banks next to the river, pulling up to the location where the body had been found earlier that day.

"So these skinwalkers, would they eat or store the flesh for later?" Bennet asked as Nea turned off the car engine.

" In some stories? Yes, and in others no. Stealing people's appearances by stealing their actual skin is normally their most described feature not their eating habits. They're described as skilled mimics, calling their victims with the familiar noises and voices of relatives," Nea said, watching the forest in the distance. Barely anything was visible under the pale low rising moonlight.

"Why?" Bennet asked, attempting to fight sleep from his eyes. Letting Nea ramble to prevent the other man from noticing him falling asleep, he didn't need shit for that. Bennet let himself drift as Nea spoke in-depth about the scant information he knew.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but suddenly he was jolted awake. Nea had stopped talking, his eyes hyper focused on something beyond the windshield, watching it like a cat watching its prey from afar. He was tense. Bennet was about to speak but Nea shushed him, barely moving his lips. Bennet began to move his head slightly to follow Nea's line of sight. Eyes locked, he felt his breath catch and his pulse quicken and he felt a flood of adrenaline wash over him.

In the moonlight, he could be seen. A thin pale man, unnaturally thin, staring them down. A sneer creeped across his face. Eyes shone unnaturally in the moonlight.

"The murderer," Bennet whispered under his breath but that was quickly taken back.

Its fingers slid under the skin, black dripping down his neck and began to flood the fibers of the shirt with a dark color. Even though the moonlight had bleached the colours around them, Bennet immediately knew what the liquid was.

Even though Bennet couldn't hear it he could only imagine the sound of flesh being ripped off the muscle and bones that kept them in place.

"What the f-"

"Don't look at its face," Nea hissed. "Not directly, anyway."

"You don't actually believe this, Nea. We need backup." When Bennet even slightly raised his voice, the creature froze.

Nea's eyes darted directly up the man's face, for a second he gripped the steering wheel tighter than he had been before. He reached into his coat, hand making contact with the butt of the pistol, and then Nea launched himself out of the car without so much of a second thought, the car shook with the force he pushed off with. Bennet fumbled with the flashlight as he watched Nea sprint into the forest and disappear behind the trees and into the night.

"Oh For the love of fuck…" Bennet got his coat on, feeling the warmth of the car already beginning to leach out of the window. He braced himself for the cold as he pushed the passenger's side door open, feeling the freezing air threatening to steal his soul as he stepped out into the deep snow.

In the distance, he could only make out the flicker of a few house lights through the thicket of the snow-covered pines. Bennet flicked the flashlight on and stopped to listen for any sounds, and he could hear Nea crashed through the snow and trees. His glasses fogged up in the cold, and while attempting to clear his glasses he accidently shone the flashlight onto the ground.

Red.

Vibrant, almost unnatural red.

Bennet scrambled to shove his glasses back on his face. He knew what that red was.

"Nea!" Bennet shouted running past the blood, and into the forest.

Nea didn't hear Bennet shout, though. He had run so deep into the forest already that he had almost lost his footing and almost fell into the icy lake. The cold began to catch up with him as he regained his balance. Fear rippled through Nea when he realized that the sounds of the forest had completely dissipated. There was nothing but silence, an unnatural silence. He removed the pistol from his coat pocket and cocked it, keeping it pointed down to the ground as he began to return to the forest. The snow crunched harshly underneath his feet as he walked forward. He felt his heart beating in his ears and adrenaline was rushing through him, causing such exhilaration.

Red eyes peered around a tree, and Nea lifted his gun.

"Federal Agent! Come out with your hands up!"

The creature listened, ruby eyes moved towards the light in the clearing. but it wasn't the man who Nea had watched tear off its face.

The creature's face was revealed under the moonlight, and Nea felt a sickening sense of excitement raise in his chest as a disturbed smile appear across his face.

"Campbell!" Bennet hissed out, trudging through the snow while his right hand slowly unclipped the gun from his belt.

The riverbank was eerily quiet, so much so that Bennet was not even sure if he could even hear his own footsteps as he crunched through the snow. The moonlight caused the pines to cast long looming shadows, and suddenly there was a loud crack that had Bennet almost jumping out of his shoes. He felt his heart pound in his chest, and he slowly turned back to see the wintry expanse he came from. He took a deep breath trying to calm himself. He once again began to walk forward.

" Campbell!" Bennet hissed.

"Over here!" Nea's voice echoed through the forest, and in the distance, Bennet could see a figure slumped up against the tree.

"Oh fuck." Knowing Nea, he had probably confronted that skin-tearing freak, in an effort to prove that he was some kind of supernatural creature, got himself injured and left for dead. Bennet removed the safety from the gun and trudged across a small part of the frozen lake. It cracked and squeaked due to his weight, the same cracking noise he had heard in the forest. Bennet skid across the last few meters back onto the rocky snow covered shore to where Nea was.

Except the piercing scent of the cold had been replaced with the pungent smell of meat, as if something had been butchered. Bennet's adrenaline spiked as he approached Nea.

Except it wasn't Nea.

Bennet felt blood drain from him.

In front of Nea stood a man whose face he had seen this morning, being carried away in a body bag. Jacob Hampton stood in front of Nea as alive as he could be.

"Shouldn't you be in a body bag in a place called Glory Hole, Montana?" Nea said, looking at the man's - no, the creature's - sickening blood coloured eyes. It took a step forward, followed by a wet almost sloshing noise as it moved.

Nea took a step back, unsure of how steady his footing underneath was. Hampton let out a low growl, it was a deep visceral growl one that an animal would make. The creature inched closer its red irides's locked onto Nea.

Adrenaline shot through Nea and he felt a sickening smile form on his face. He knew it this wasn't human, but he wanted a closer look. Suddenly, whatever had possessed Hampton's body lurched towards him. Nea felt his body react on its own, sending him back and then skidding across the ice of the lake. He quickly regained his footing on the ice, lifting his gun to the creature. Hampton's face was streaked from its mouth down to its chest in blood, as if it had been feeding on something just before Nea had found him, or before it had found Nea.

"What are you? You creepy son of a b-" a gunshot resonated across the frozen tundra. Nea couldn't see where it had come from, and the echo made it impossible to clearly tell even what direction it came from, but he could easily see the bullet's target. A viscous almost black seeped from Hampton and onto the ice. Hampton stood stunned for a second, as if trying to process what had happened before it whipped its body around, and for a second, Nea could see the shooter. Bennet.

Bennet had seen Nea skid across the ice as he knelt next to the body he had stumbled across. What he hadn't expected was to see a man running nearly on all fours after Nea. He saw the purple haired man aim the gun at the man who began to stand as man once again. Was Nea…smiling? Bennet left what was probably this killer's latest victim and slowly returned to the ice, lifting his gun.

The man lurched at his partner and Bennet didn't hesitate. He took the shot, and with high visibility on this icy moonlit night, the bullet found its target with ease. The man didn't scream out, he didn't crumple in pain. He froze, stiff for the longest seconds of Bennet's life but not nearly long enough. The man turned quickly to face him, Jacob Hampton…how? No that couldn't be right, this was a scragglier, much thinner version of the man whose post mortem photos has been faxed to D.C., eyes as red as the blood on his face and fluid thick as honey dripping out onto the ice. Hampton didn't waste any time, charging towards Bennet.

The cold air sent a sharp pain through his chest, shocking him out of his trance. Bennet scrambled, skidding on the ice trying to put as much distance between him and the deranged serial murder charging towards him, choking back any fear that dare come up. He raised his gun again as the man approached.

"Wait!" He heard Nea scream, but it was too late, Bennet had pulled the trigger and this time, they could hear it. The pang and ringing of the bullets impact. the soft sickening sound of bone cracking and splintering apart under the force applied by the bullet.

Hampton crumpled to the ground, and Bennet could hear Nea's shoes scraping across the ice. Bennet ignored him, walking over to Hampton, whose chest struggled to heave as he lay on the ice. The color of Hampton's skin began to fade, from its pale peach into splotches of white and gray across any visible parts. A man with crazed delirious eyes.

Prion disease had cause this, Bennet was certain. People like this, men like this…didn't randomly start consuming human flesh, They had been for years now. And now as their brains deteriorated, they would come out of the woodwork. Driven by a sickening desire to consume their own kind. He gasped on the ice as Bennet stared him down. A glint of vibrant yellow reflected off the man's eyes as Bennet began to recompose himself, only for that composure to be broken again by Nea's fist making contact with his face. Bennet didn't even have time to reel from the sucker punch when Nea grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and jacket at the same damn time. He was so close to Bennet's face, far too close. Nea's breath was warm, but disgusting and unwelcome even if it was below zero degrees out here.

"What the fuck! How could you, I was this close to having proof! Proof that there's something else and you jus-" Nea shouted when Bennet shoved him away.

"Don't get full of yourself," Bennet hissed, he could hear the sirens coming up the mountain road at this point, the gun shots must have called attention to them. "Proof of what? What we have here isn't proof of your paranoid delusions Campbell, this was a person! A person who was a second from taking your life! You're lucky I could shoot well enough to knock him down before he even got me, before he did to us what he did to her!" Bennet pointed to the tree with his gun.

"Her?" Nea echoed, losing any sense of rage.

"Margret Miller, the waitress who serves us yesterday morning. We didn't even know her name, but it was Margret Miller. And that thing you were trying to protect, killed her and began to eat her insides raw. He's not a monster in the paranormal sense, he's a monster in the human sense. What the fuck is wrong with you."

Nea didn't say anything. Bennet found it surprising that the other man could even keep his mouth shut for a whole goddamn minute, and soon he could see the lights passing through the forest line. He put the safety back on his pistol before returning it to the holster, removing his FBI badge from the inner pocket of his coat before reaching for the outer pocket for the pack of cigarettes, that weren't there.

Bennet grimaced. God, he could really use a cigarette.

Eyewitness accounts and paperwork for the incident took almost an entire day to complete. Hampton's body had been received by the morgue - Nea had made sure of that, but just as quickly as it arrived for autopsy, it vanished. Without so much as a trace that same night. The surveillance cameras didn't pick up anything unusual for the town, a few coyotes scavenging for food, not a human escaping from the hospital. Typical. According to the coroner, the man that had been brought in had been Jacob Hampton, the same Jacob Hampton that had been in the morgue earlier that day, right down to the Y incision in his chest.

Bennet sat in the police station drinking a relatively stale cup of coffee, made from a stale batch of year old bulk coffee left open so that all the flavor had escaped from the jar of coffee grounds. Margret Miller would be cremated within the week; she had been a kind daughter, sister, and wife. Bennet folded the newspaper and tossed it back onto a stack three high. Nea hadn't spoken to him since that night, which in itself was a blessing and a curse. The drive back to the airport was going to be a silent one, hopefully.

When Nea slunk out of the sheriff's office, he didn't look at Bennet, but rather stated, "We're leaving."

That's all Bennet needed to hear. Luggage had been packed into the rental car and the flight Scheduled to leave four hours after they would arrive at the airport. Nea was the first in the rental car, starting it up as it shook in the cold of winter, as if it attempted to warm itself up. Bennet had his hand on the handle when he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, as if he were being watched by the cold unforgiving gaze of a hungry beast.


	6. Chapter 5 : Sleepless

Weeks had passed since the incident in Truth, Montana. All those weeks and 95% of that time had been spent in the office, cases that Campbell deemed unimportant and or unworthy of his precious time were discarded to the shredder, and others that Campbell deemed worthy ended up being one wild goose chase after another. Bennet had chuckled every time one of these blew up in Campbell's face, but every case left Campbell more and more melancholic. Ever since Jacob Hampton's death and the subsequent disappearance of the body, Campbell had been more than short with him, and Bennet was too. He needed to get over it.

While Nea was off moping about trying to find a new case that would lead to "evidence" of the paranormal, and not watch "research" on the television down in the office. Bennet sat idly, forcing himself to complete the information transfer of one of the x-files into the FBI's main database. Why hadn't someone done this years ago? Probably because someone like Bennet has scoffed and decided that files like these weren't important enough to transcribe. He was about to give up for the day when a knock at the office door came and Bennet glanced away from the computer screen. Kind of a pudgy man, his last name was Daley, Bennet remembered that much, they had worked together a handful of times.

"What brings you to Hell, Daley?" Bennet scoffed.

"Is this really where they put you? God it's like prison," the other man responded.

"If prison involved babysitting and a gun," Bennet chuckled.

"Right! Anyway, I was given a case, but it falls more under _your_ department's jurisdiction."

Daley placed a file on the desk. Bennet rolled over and flipped it open

"What is this?" Bennet asked not looking once back up at his colleague.

"People have been going missing in a coastal town, nobody seems to know why, Young people too, only in their early twenties."

"How coastal are we talking cause if you don't say Miami I'm not taking the job Daley," Bennet joked.

"Ah no dice. Massachusetts."

"Damn, well I guess I'll take it anyway." Daley chuckled as Bennet said that. "From the little information it has, college students have been going missing left and right without a trace. Daley, I think the cold case file section would have more use for this than me."

"Its been sitting in our office for weeks, every time someone takes it, they come back empty handed." Daley responded. "Essentially, they are a set of cold cases, but not officially. I thought you'd like a head start on this before the Spooks gets a hold of it you know."

Bennet sighed. Spooks,q was that Campbell's nickname with the rest of the bureau? He chuckled.

"Alright, thanks Daley."

He had returned to entering data into the bureau's database when Nea returned, a popsicle held tightly in his hand. Bennet sat dumbfounded, and yet the only thing his brain could process was, how was it fair that Campbell got a popsicle for dicking around while he had been doing work for these past hours.

"Look who decided to return to his post," Bennet managed after distracting himself from the popsicle.

"Oh fuck off," Nea muttered. Bennet could hear the annoyance practically drip off the other man's voice, probably still because of the incident in Montana even though Bennet had saved his life.

"Save it for later, we have a case."

"What is it?"

"A set of cold cases," Bennet responded.

"Not interested," Nea said flatly. "Put it back in the filing cabinet, it's not worth the effort."

"It's not from the filing cabinet. It comes from the criminal investigation department. Kids have been going missing, and every time someone goes missing, witness claim that they're seen talking to a young child or a teenager. I did some intelligence work for a case similar to this a while back, people using children to lure women into human trafficking rings."

"Then the criminal investigations department should keep the case," Nea said licking the popsicle before biting off the tip.

Bennet furrowed his brow and frowned as Nea disregarded his statement. "Every agent that gets sent there comes back completely empty handed, as if these people vanished like a puff of smoke."

"So?"

"It's in Salem, Massachusetts." Bennet watched as Campbell's reaction completely changed. The melancholy from moments ago disappeared replaced with a look of ae and excitement, so much so that a piece of Popsicle slipped of its wooden stick and straight onto Nea's pant leg.

"Oh damnit!"

Bennet could only raise an eyebrow because if he said anything he would start laughing on the spot. How was he a grown man? Bennet cleared his throat. "Well, Campbell, are we taking the case or am I returning it?"

"Absolutely! Get your things we'll go now!"

"Now?!" Bennet sputtered.

An hour of hasty packing Bennet once again found himself in a car with Nea Campbell driving to another strange case.

The ride was awkward and silent, even though another case had been found, Bennet still had a sneaking suspicion that it was because what happened on that frozen lake. Bennet grumbled for a second before speaking.

"I get it, you're mad at me for shooting Hampton." Him being the bigger man was probably for the better.

"We lost that creature because you shot at it," Nea said, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Would you rather Jacob Hampton eaten you too?" Bennet hissed.

"No! But you could have wa-" Nea began to shout, turning away from the road for a split second.

"Watch where you're fucking driving!" Bennet yelled as they swerved slightly into the other lane on the highway. "You're going to get us killed at this rate, Campbell, and it's only been three weeks!"

"Listen, Specs, if you want me to say sorry, then fine, sorry. But please imagine wanting to find out something your entire life, and every single time you get even somewhat close to figuring it out, it gets further and further away."

"Just try harder to not to get us killed in this search of yours, because if you get me killed I'll haunt you," Bennet said, only to get a chuckle out of the other man.

Honestly Bennet hated any car ride that lasted more than twenty minutes when he wasn't driving, watching the farm lands and cities flying past him was just boring. He must have dosed off because the next thing he knew he was jolted awake when Nea hit a speed bump a little too quickly. They were pulling into a parking lot in a residential side of a town, the Salem Police station he assumed.

Nea proceeded to park in the visitor parking, one which has a sign that read '15 minutes only'. Bennet glared at Nea.

"What?" Nea asked noticing the annoyance in the other man's face. "They won't mind."

Bennet released a sigh. "Fine." He reluctantly took the lead and Nea followed him into the police station.

The building was just as he suspected, a busy police station, phones ringing nonstop, detectives busy at their desks; the smell of cheap coffee filled the building.

Bennet walked up to the secretary and asked her to speak to the detective on the case, but the secretary didn't even look up from her IBM, she brushed Bennet off and told him to sit and wait until she came for him.

Bennet grumbled slightly but did as he was told, walking over to a chair. Across the room, Nea was busy chatting up someone else who sat handcuffed to a chair. It looked like something out of a second rate cop show. A man in a suit chatting up a rough looking thug in handcuffs, asking what he was there for and sympathizing when the man told him….Property damage, typical.

That scruffy thug probably thought Nea was some big shot lawyer taking sympathy on him, and that made Bennet chuckle. The man barely had the right mind to be an agent, let alone be a lawyer. He continued to snicker about it when the secretary approached from behind her desk.

"You're the FBI agent, right?" she asked. "The next unfortunate sucker sent to cross our T's and dot our I's on these cold cases?"

"Yes and it's a pleasure to meet you too." He didn't bother to introduce himself.

"That your partner? Get him and follow me." The woman motioned to Nea before turning back and heading to a doorway where she waited, folding her arms across her chest and beginning to tap her foot.

"Hey! Robert Shapiro, we have a case, remember?" Bennet shouted across the lobby.

Nea quickly said goodbye to his friendly thug and regrouped with Bennet.

"No, but honestly what's not interesting about a guy handcuffed to a chair rather than in a cell, and in a police station of all places?" Nea asked.

"Everything? What did you find out? Anything witch related?" Bennet's tone was nothing but mocking. Nea only responded with a smile that hid none of his annoyance.

"No…" He dragged it out in his annoyance. "But you're right, why I thought he was handcuffed there and why he actually was handcuffed there were two very different things, and the latter was a disappointment."

They followed the secretary back through the doorway and began to pass rows of desks sans a few detectives, and any there were chuckling at the sight of Bennet and Nea arriving. Bennet bristled, it felt like the academy all over again. He glanced at Nea who was still babbling about his convict friend, it felt as if he had been thrown eight years into the past.

"So what was it in the end?" Bennet asked.

"Dented car, slashed tires and a few busted rear lights," Nea responded cheerfully. "He's convinced he'll get away with it."

"Innocent until proven guilty, what proof does the Salem PD have?" Bennet asked, skeptical as always.

"Broken pieces of tail light caught in the folds of his pants."

"God, are all petty criminals that moronic? Are you going to tell the Salem police?"

"No, they'll notice."

"And if they don't?" Bennet proded.

"Then they're stupider than petty criminals."

Bennet grimaced. "You're a menace, and obstructing justice."

"It's not like she can't hear us," Nea said, motioning to the secretary.

"Alright boys, enjoy," The woman said as she pushed the door to a small, cramped office.

Bennet felt his heart drop to his feet when he saw into the room. Boxes upon boxes upon boxes of paperwork. How could twenty missing people accumulate this much paperwork? Nea whistled, behind them the remaining detectives sat giggling and chattering amongst themselves. Bennet could hear them taking bets on how long the FBI agents would last and whether they would catch a lead in the case.

Bennet scowled.

"You sure now how to pick them, Specs." Nea said, a nervous laugh creaking into his voice.

"Shove it, Campbell. It looks better than your office the first day I got there," Benent hissed, fighting his coat off and throwing it onto the only empty chair in the room. "Let's get to work."

After a few hours the boxes had been stacked and organized by sex, amount of evidence, and the location of the disappearance.

Bennet poured himself over the case, every single page he read contained a person's life that had just abruptly stopped going on the course it was supposed to. College students, fast food workers, people who didn't even know what they were going to do. Bennet looked up to see Nea staring at him like some kind of barn owl and he scowled. Nea broke eye contact with him and took a sip of coffee only to make a sour face, gagging a little afterward.

"You'd think that Salem's police would be able to brew a better cup of coffee than a small town in Montana," Bennet said, not turning back to look at the other man.

"Right?" Nea laughed a little, looking at the fine coffee grounds left in the bottom of the mug.

"Okay, I've narrowed down the locations of the disappearances with the most evidence and you should have the disappearances with the least." He turned back to see a large stack of files next to Nea's hand. "Have you been working at all?" Bennet hissed standing up and glaring at Nea.

"I have!" Nea protested, "You had less than me!"

"All you had to do was check location!"

"I got distracted!"

"By what?!"

Bennet saw Nea pause and think over his answer carefully, almost as if to pick the right dialogue option in a choose your own adventure novel before finally responding, "By shitty coffee."

"Great. You're a real agent," Bennet deadpanned.

"I am!" Nea said almost shouting. "Here! These are the locations of the missing people. Without any information, other than the last location they were seen and the fact that they were seen talking to children." He got up out of the chair and moved to the whiteboard to take a marker and begin marking the board, a mark for where each victim was found.

"A few outliers in this, far from the disappearances that I've looked for, but I'm not sure what you want to do about those, Specs."

"Leave them for now," Bennet said. "Are those all the ones you got through?"

Nea nodded moving away from the whiteboard as Bennet pushed passed him to reach the whiteboard.

"So what outlandish theories do you have so far? Any sexy succubi, stealing people to force them to become part of their sex slaves?"

"Actually if this were the work of Succubi and Incubi, that could very well be their mot-Wait! You're making fun of me!" Nea shouted, almost jumping at Bennet who stood there snickering.

"I think it's well-deserved considering you were slacking off not even five minutes ago." Bennet responded, a shit eating grin spreading across his face.

"Fine!" Nea said. "These two were last seen in the west part of the Salem woods."

"The others?" Bennet asked putting the locations of the board in blue marker.

Bennet chuckled watching Nea work rapidly out of a pure sense of spite.

"The rest are outliers, and you said we were leaving those out for the time being," Nea muttered.

"Give them to me, might as well put them on the board."

"Alright. The first one is in Gallows Hill Park Woods," Nea put the final sheets of paper back into their folder. "They all seem to be located in that area... that's weird…centered around the park…" Nea said, taking the blue marker from Bennet and marking them himself.

"That's odd…"

"We should start investigating there."

"A stake out?"

"Exactly, let's go, Specs."

"Stop calling me Specs."

How did they always end up in a car? At this point they weren't any better than a couple of horny teenagers based on the amount of time they'd been parked in the secluded woods.

Bennet had found himself freezing again, because of course stake outs involved sitting in an off car a week before the first day of spring. He was thankful they had stopped to get thermal mugs and filled them up at the nearest coffee shop, but even after all that coffee Bennet felt like he could crash right there in his seat without the heat on, the car in the middle of what remained of a pile of snow. It was already a little past three in the morning, Bennet had just let his eyes close completely when Nea grumbled something before shoving the binoculars onto him.

"I'm going to check it out," Nea said opening the car door. The interior lights almosted blinded Bennet as soon as he opened the door.

"You don't have to, the other agents have combed through this area already… fuck, as recently as two weeks ago."

"It doesn't matter, come on," Nea said fixing his coat a little before slamming the door to the car.

Bennet grumbled but reluctantly pushed open the car door. Flashlight in hand and having to basically climb over the car because Nea just had to park way too close to the snow pile. After a bit of trudging in the snow he caught up to Nea.

"What are you looking for?" he asked Nea, watching him wave his flashlight up and down every wall and window in the abandoned house they passed.

"An opening," Nea responded before spotting a window that was clearly not completely covered in glass. "Bingo!"

"I'm telling you, the other agents have investigated this house already. Campbell!" Bennet watched the other man began to slide himself through the broken, half open window. Bennet grumbled but followed suit only to find himself, flashlight in hand, dusting cobwebs off himself in a dusty damp basement.

"This is the place that connects all of the missing persons." Nea whispered, wandering carefully. "That means something has to be here…"

"Campbell! We don't even have a warrant! Let alone probable cause!" Bennet hissed. "It's abandoned, and what if the cops show up?!"

"Good to see they haven't surgically removed that stick from your ass since the academy, Specs."

"So you do remember me."

"I mean with that stick wedged so far up there it's kind of hard to forget, Spe-"

"You don't remember my name do you?" Bennet tried not to shout.

Nea automatically clammed up at that point, descending the stairs to a lower part of the basement.

"That's exactly what I thought, you bastard." Bennet followed Nea closely as they went deeper into the house. The stairs creaked with every step and Bennet had his hand on his holster, ready to draw his pistol if anything decided to jump out on them.

"Easy there, Trigger," The purple haired man said as he reached the bottom of the staircase. The flashlight illuminated what turned out to be a cellar. The floor was rubble and the walls looked old and battered, and in the deepest part of the cellar there was a door. Suddenly the temperature dropped, causing Bennet to shiver.

Nea motioned forward and put his finger to his mouth, lifting the gun from his waist. He reached out to the door handle, pushing his weight into opening the door.

Bennet didn't have to see the content of the room, he knew.

The smell gave it away.

His stomach attempted to reject its contents. Bennet turned away, having to crouch onto the floor. He covered his nose as he gasped for air that wasn't tainted, attempting to calm himself when he heard Nea gasp for breath.

The smell, that sickening smell washed over Bennet once more, He didn't dare look back. He caught glimpses, but he knew.

In the room lay the bodies, more than just a handful of victims. Their corpses lay decomposing, bloody, completely nude; they were pale and blue before they dissolved into the surrounding floor.

"Shit," Nea muttered, rushing to Bennet and pulling him to his feet. The man took out his cell phone quickly, ushering Bennet upstairs.

"Hello, Chief? We're going to need a few ambulances…and you and your best men. We've found you missing persons."

They arrived outside, through the front door of the abandoned house and into the fresh salted air of the Atlantic, washing away the smell of decomposing flesh.

Bennet could hear the mumbling on Nea on the phone and then the soft click of the flip phone closing. He struggled to catch his breath as nausea washed over him, but eventually one final whiff from the house overcame him. The sound of sirens rose from the distance. Bennet looked back at Nea. How did this happen, how did they find what no one else had…what was worse was on top of that pile of bodies, lay a fresh one… a young woman, the most recent victim. Bennet jolted as he heard Nea slam his fist into one of the houses wooden columns.


End file.
